They Long to Be (Close to You)

Richard Chamberlain — issued in September 1963 as the B-side of the MGM label single Blue Guitar (Bacharach & David) (K13170)

Dionne Warwick — 1963 demo and 1964 recording for her LP Make Way for Dionne Warwick. The latter was also issued in June 1965 as the B-side of the Scepter single Here I Am (SR 12104)

Dusty Springfield — released on her 1967 UK album Where Am I Going?, and its modified US counterpart, The Look of Love

Burt Bacharach — 1968 (unreleased?)

The Carpenters — Single issued on 20 May 1970 as A&M 1183, b/w I Kept On Loving You (Paul Williams, Roger Nichols). It climbed to #1 and remained at the top for four weeks, becoming the first big hit for the Carpenters. Richard Carpenter’s brilliant arrangement of the song limited and toned down Bacharach’s insistent staccato piano, and eliminated the monotonous delivery of the lines “So they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of gold / And starlight in your eyes of blue,” two features which burden all of the aforementioned earlier versions except Springfield’s.

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Burt and Barbra — from the television special Singer Presents Burt Bacharach (1971)